1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and a system for preparing and presenting multimedia presentations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In preparing a multimedia presentation, the sources, including individuals and documents) are typically in the same physical location, called a scripting room, as the scripting technician. Within the context of a lawsuit, for example (and as shown in FIG. 1), a trial consultant or technician (“Operator” or controller or control operator), meets with one or more contributors, such as attorneys, clients, witnesses and/or experts in the Scripting Room and together they utilize multimedia software to create a scripted presentation of evidence relating to a specific witness or the opening/closing of a trial. Software for creating such a scripted presentation is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,744, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. As an alternative, the contributors may provide the Operator with an outline of an examination, opening statement, or closing statement.
In the Scripting Room, the Control Operator creates a script corresponding to the outline. A physical scripting room as currently utilized in the art may include contributors 11 and 12 working with an Operator 10 (trial consultant or technician) to script a multimedia presentation. The Operator utilizes multimedia software and data source material on a CPU 14 and associated display monitor 15, which the contributors (and the Operator) view on a large screen display 16 linked to the Operator's CPU.
Regardless of how the scripted presentation is initiated, the contributors and the Operator still must physically meet to review the scripted presentation and work together in the Scripting Room to make final revisions to the scripted presentation. This entails synchronizing the schedules of potentially a large number of persons, and will typically involve the additional expense and effort of travel.